A street artist taught himself to paint to overcome his darkest moments. Then, he got his big break.

A street artist taught himself to paint to overcome his darkest moments. Then, he got his big break.

As a child, Bradley Theodore wanted to be an artist. But he didn’t know how to paint. When he grew up, he became involved in the graffiti scene. Street art wasn’t thought of as art back then — he did it for fun.

A post shared by BTH (@bradleytheodore) on Mar 10, 2014 at 10:26am PDT

Then, three years ago, he suffered through the darkest moments of his life. That’s when he decided to learn to paint. Other artists wouldn’t show their techniques to him, so he taught himself by watching videos online.

A post shared by BTH (@bradleytheodore) on Mar 19, 2014 at 10:19pm PDT

One of his first works was a portrait of Anna Wintour and Karl Lagerfeld, which would go on to make him one of the most famous celebrity artists. Now, he often paints fashion icons, such as Kate Moss as a skeleton. But he also has murals of Prince and Bill Clinton.